data. i would like to briefly summarize our report and to make comments. >> mr. chairman, members of the committee, deb radio newman from the budget analyst's office. i just wanted to take a moment at the beginning. and respond to questions raised. supervisor chiu you asked about the caseload data for the district attorney of an average caseload of 30 per attorney and where that number came from. if you look at table 3 on our report 11, actually based on the information provided by the district attorney, there show and average caseload per attorney, this is for the domestic violence division, of those cases assigned to trial, it shows 30 caseload per attorney average.

and again, this is based -- it does show that is going up and that those are possibly the numbers that were being used there. >> through the chair, a clarification, i wasn't studenting that number, but i was disputeing 60 cases from the public defender's misdemeanor caseload versus the 30. i think that is comparing apples to oranges and the appropriate comparison would be 60 cases per criminal defense attorney in the misdemeanor unit on the public deferreders side versus a couple hundred on the district attorney's side. that is what i was really getting it. >> this does not show anything for the public defender, nor talk about overall caseload for the department. it's just focusing on the domestic violence cases. i would also like to respond, supervisor mar, you were asking about the caseload, the reduction from the police

department. and questioning the district attorney about the difference. i would just comment that looking at table 10 and table 11 on page 19 of our report, table 10 reflects the case load data that we compile based on a lot of information provided by the police department. and that does show a 32% reduction in 2012 and an overall 48% reduction over the last five years. while the district attorney takes exception with that and we did go back to the police department and clarify that those are the actual cases being referred to the district attorney's office, if you look at table 11 on the bottom, that is information provided by the district attorney. which actually shows the same trend. although not as large. they showed the actual number of cases being referred to the district attorney going down. as well as the number of cases

being charged by the district attorney going down by the order of 18%, over the last two years. >> thank you, supervisor mar? >> thank you. miss newman i know miss dubury mentioned 2012 seemed to be an anomaly and if you could look at trend for five years, but looks like 2012 was a significant drop. i am wondering if you could address that? >> certainly, through the chair, supervisor mar, we agree it does look like an anomaly and when i get to our recommendations it's one of the reasons that we make a recommendation for all limited positions because if that trend does continue, there is -- and i can explain it more there. but there is a one-year difference quite significant going on and we're concerned about making a big increase of

permanent positions based on one-year of quite significant data. so going back to just overall summary, i would note on page 8, or in table 8, that is table 8 on page 16 of our report. it shows the department on the status of women fiscal year 12-13 general fund requests, that is part of this supplemental for $304,412 for the subject domestic violence supplemental. as well as the anticipated annual general fund ongoing cost of $509,000 that would be incured in future years based on these current costs. in addition, table 9 on page 17 of our report identifies the district attorney's current

request of $446,000 of general fund appropriation for 3.6 full-time equivalent. $1.2 million for 11 full-time equivalent positions that would be incurred in fiscal year 13 -14. the public defender has discussed some of their concerns. they also relayed to us that if the request as proposed here was approved, that there is likely to be an increase in prosecutions and trials, and

there could be a supplemental request by the public defender for additional positions for parity. similarly, if the district attorney does prosecute more cases and more cases are sent to probation and to jails there could possibly be a ripple effect with probation and the sheriff. moving to our recommendations i would note question of 11 positions would result in 100% in the d.a.'s domestic violence staffing. to 22 positions and cases from the police department have

decreased and 18.5% in domestic violence cases charged by the d.a. in 2010-2011. the d.a. is advising that their caseloads are actually increasing primarily due to the increased number of trials, particularly for the misdemeanor domestic violence trials. moving to the recommendations. they are summerized on page 20 of our report. to both address these additional caseload concerns that are occur right now,ring right now in addition, to the dropping of the cases dropped by the police department and as summarized on page 21 in page 12 of our report, we're recommending two limited-term attorney positions. the addition of these two positions would reduce the average caseload per attorney per month from 30 to 24, 20%

reduction. and the average number of trials, both the felony and misdemeanor trials per attorney per year going down from 5 trials to 4 trials and we're making a recommendation for d.a. investigator positions, dedicated to domestic violence in the d.a.'s office and would provide support to those attorneys in processing the domestic violence cases, offsetting in addition, the attorney workload. we're also recommending one limited term investigative assistant, basically a paralegal position to also assist the domestic violence unit and that would increase the paralegals to two within that unit. we're also recommending the approval of the departmental status on women, the 18-24

principal administrative analyst, but as was discussed earlier, we're recommending and the department concurs a reduction in the current year due to simply a timing issue for when they could actually hire that position. so in summary, we're recommending that five of the 11 positions being requested for the district attorney and the one position for the department on the status of women. specifically as shown on page 22, we would recommend that you amend the proposed annual salary ordinance to reflect the one new permanent department on status of women, 124 principal administrative analyst position at .33 full-time equivalent in stead of the .550 full-time equivalent and also that you identify all district attorney positions as limited tenure, so there is time to come back and

analyze workload and five positions in the district attorney's office that i just outlined. in addition, recommendation no. 2 is to amend the proposed supplemental appropriation as i outlined, where general fund savings this year of $258,933 and for our third recommendation approval of the balance of the 6 da positions, $50,000 for the one-time outreach and warnaco campaign for the department on the status of women, $178,000 for the non-profit service contracts are a policy decision for the board of supervisors. he would be happy to answer questions. >> colleagues in pryzchiu? >> thank you for your report

and you were sifting through an awful lot of information. so thank you for your patience. first of all with regards with recommendations to a number of attorneys to allot, as you described. the additional two recommended positions that you are proposing would reduce caseloads per month by 20%. average number of trials by 20% and i wondered how did you arrive at that number, given that in table 3 of your report, you note that the number of cases per month has increased 73%, misdemeanor jury trials increased by 125%, total jury trials increased by 81%. it seems to me a requisite number of attorneys to deal with that to get us back to a more stable place would have been a higher number. >> president chiu on those

numbers we took current year caseload and sliver simply looked at the impact on two attorneys on the case load. caseload reported for 2012, we looked at nine attorneys and the impact of having 11 rather than 9. >> okay getting to your question, your recommendation around victim witness investigator position. i was surprised there weren't any recommendations in that area and i want to understand that you state that the district attorney's office received $300,000 of general fund this past budget to fund the three previously grant funded position. my understanding is that state and federal grant sources dried up what in previous years around ad[sro-ebgts/]s victim

witnesses and, in fact, i also understand there has been a 20% increase in the number of victims served by the d.a.'s office and no change in staff and i'm wondering if the mayor's office or d.a.'s office could provide a little bit of light on this issue? >> supervisor, kate howard, through the chair. generally, what you have described is correct. there were a number of grants that the district attorney used over the last several years to support victim services among other services that they provided. in last year's budget the general fund did come behind and support the continuation of those services. >> do you have a perspective on that? >> our way of looking at it when grant funds go away, it's discretionary and part of the

board of supervisors whether they want to back fill the position with general fund monies. that we consider this to be an increase in general fund cost to the department that otherwise those positions would have terminated, which is the case with grant-funded positions. and so we thought that -- we acknowledge that there is not an increase in the number of bodies, but we do say that alternatively those positions would have terminated with the termination of the grant funding. >> thank you. the way i read it in your recommendations suggests that the d.a.'s office received that but it's general fund revenue to make up for the cuts in state and federal funding. from my perspective i think attorneys are obviously important. but also ensuring that will are competent individuals who are

provided culturally competent services to victims and witnesses as they come through. we heard mr. adachi talk about the work he does with his clients and his defendants and i think that is all extremely important and good. on the flipside of that, the d.a.'s office handles relationships and ensures that victims and witnesss are being taken care of during the criminal justice system as we move through the criminal proceedings. i think it's very important that that portion of the appropriations also be supported. back to you, mr. chair. >> thank you, president chiu. colleagues any other questions of staff? seeing none, i will open it up to public comment. i have a number of speaker cards. if you want to fill out a speaker card, we have them available here. otherwise you can line up after these folks are called. so if you will speak in this order: [ reading speakers' names ]

>> good afternoon, supervisor, ads serves survivors of domestic violence and other forms of violence against women and both trafficking within our shelter, as well as for outside clients. most of our

[speaker not understood] we see women on the streets and living in cars and they need to be brought into shelters and

greeted with appropriate services. and recently i watched a survivor and her children playing a game of tag in the backyard and i reflected on the irony of what brought her to the shelter, which was a very real and lethal game of tag she was escaping from her batterer. so we urge you to consider the other needs of survives. survivors. thank you. >> thank you, [tph-efrplts/] speaker. >> my name is stacy lambright, a staff attorney and represent [speaker not understood]

we have identified gaps in legal services to african-american survivors in san francisco. bay legal is currently hosting a legal fellow named kimmy -- she is an equal justice work fellow and she has been leading a collaboration of domestic violence service provideersrs

[speaker not understood] right now over two-thirds of my caseload con sists [speaker not understood] >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> hello i am executive

director at women, inc. and we just want to again echo the gratitude expressed here today for your ongoing advocacy, support of our work and of course, a major part of that network of service providers in san francisco, of course, elizabeth from aws, we hear these stories everyday in terms of there is a need for emergency shelter, but certainly the funds to supplement the legal issues, the legal support, that many of our clients face as an obstacle to leaving an abusive relationship are appreciated and at women, inc. we have a

24-hour crisis line we can see in the comprehensive report that president chiu referenced, it's increasing drastically. you want to know that the referral you gave them, that they are going to be able to help them. and so this funding, this supplemental funding can lend itself to that. they can make that a reality for my staff team that are knowing that yes, we make these referrals and they are able to find help. we're very supportive of any additional

staffing. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> thank you supervisor for allowing us to speak today. my name is nancy rock and the vice-chair of the san francisco women in action. we serve women, families and children in need in san francisco and throughout the bay area. i am here to reinforce the support you have given to the department on the status of women and we use a lot of their materials, reports and services. so we're expanding what you have allocated in terms of budget, and expanding that to a larger audience when we give our programs, we use their materials. we do that, because they can be trusted. there is a lot of stiff stuff on the internet and i can tell you when we use a report from dosw, the information is

accurate. and we know there is accurate information portrayed to the people, and again, thank you for your support. and we'll continue to pass on the information that they give us, because again, we can trust it. and we hope that you know that we trust you and we really, really do appreciate this. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> good afternoon supervisor. thank you supervisor chiu, specifically for putting the supplemental appropriation forward. my name is catherine berg and the augmentation before you today provides important support, support that would be more beneficial to our community if it was ongoing and continuous.

everyday at lacasa we're working hard to build awareness about abuse and ensure a safety net is available 24 hours a day as needed. as an example, this is teen dating violence awareness month and our program has engaged youth through girls got each other's back, which is a purple bracelet campaign. everyday at lacasa we're responding to multiple crises. 4800 annual calls means on average we answer 13 calls to our hotline everyday. of those callers, three will be professionals or people representing community agencies seeking a pathway to services for someone they work with. one might be a hangup and usually those occur in the evening hours and might be star 69 offer someone follows up on last numbers dialed and remaining 9, 10 will be from

individuals in crisis. there are a lot of individuals that need supportive services, part of which are represented here today. the supplemental funding here is a small part of what that gap is in services is. but it's an important one. every dollar counts. these funds don't match the need, even though lacasa, for instance is leveraging the city's 7:1. we need you to stand up and support the funds. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> thank you. good afternoon. supervisors, beverlily upton, [skwao-uft/] director of the san francisco domestic violence consortium on october 22, 2000 san francisco reiterated its commitment to end domestic violence in san francisco when clay joyce was killed in front of her children.

as we do become their allis in the community, as well, this supplemental, thank you president chiu and the board of supervisors to help san francisco keep its promise to victims. the number on homicides are going down of the we're heading in the right direction. the increased caseload we're seeing in the community and the

d.a.'s office and the public defender's office is a measure of our success. we are, there san francisco is living up to its commitment that it's made. the supplemental will help us do this on every level. we cannot underestimate the interconnectedness of the community and the department on the status of women and their leadership. and the leadership of the criminal justice agencies here in san francisco to keep every victim in every zip code safe. we are here and you are here to keep san francisco's commitment and we thank you. >> next speaker. >> we assist survivors of

domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking and getting restraining orders. i understand and appreciate the d.a.'s need for sufficient staffing in its domestic violence unit for survivor s, and to underscore what d.a. gascon said, i often hear there victims who were contacted by the public defenders office, and these victims often become reluctant to cooperate in the prosecution system. i appreciate president chiu and the board's understanding that many domestic violence survivors choose not to access the criminal legal system, but still cohesive to seek help from the system. this supplemental acknowledges that fact and sustains the legal organizations who assist survivors in